MFStools Boot CD - LBA48 Boot Disk for ALL TiVo Models

So, to answer your question, "it depends..." - a noswap mode should work fine for both units, but if you are doing something like installing TurboNet or CacheCARD drivers on a Series1, then you need to use the swap mode.

Click to expand...

I tried the new drive that seemed to complete the mfstools process successfully (with byte swapping off) but it is stuck on the "Please wait..." screen. I did try the master/slave jumper in all positions.

Maybe I'm being too stubborn, but all the instructions I read for my unit, HRD212, on weaknees and hinsdale refer to using a utility called TivoMad (for software at 2.0 or before) to make the new drive useable on my system. Could someone please explain why that is no longer necesssary and how that functionality is supplanted or available in the latest mfstools bootCD? Is there some special command I need to use in addition to the mfsbackup/mfs restore commands?

I tried the new drive that seemed to complete the mfstools process successfully (with byte swapping off) but it is stuck on the "Please wait..." screen. I did try the master/slave jumper in all positions.

Maybe I'm being too stubborn, but all the instructions I read for my unit, HRD212, on weaknees and hinsdale refer to using a utility called TivoMad (for software at 2.0 or before) to make the new drive useable on my system. Could someone please explain why that is no longer necesssary and how that functionality is supplanted or available in the latest mfstools bootCD? Is there some special command I need to use in addition to the mfsbackup/mfs restore commands?

Thanks again,

Click to expand...

The reason why TiVoMad is no longer necessary because at the time, there was no tool for expanding the partitions on a drive that already had the operating system on it. IE; you could add a drive using "BlessTiVo" however if you used dd to create a new drive by copying your original to a larger one, there was no way to expand the media partitions to use the additional space.

I do not recall using TiVoMad on standalone units, but I do recall using it on DirecTiVo boxes.

When MFStools came out, those tools were not required, and the software versions available for TiVo units were later than the ones you are currently running.

Consider letting your unit update to the latest version of the software (3.0) to at least eliminate that factor as a potential issue. Also consider following whatever guide you are using, to the letter, if you have an expectation of it working. As I said before, I've never paid much attention to the guides because we established our best practices for upgrading units long before either were ever written.

Consider letting your unit update to the latest version of the software (3.0) to at least eliminate that factor as a potential issue. Also consider following whatever guide you are using, to the letter, if you have an expectation of it working.
Lou

Click to expand...

I have no way of letting it update: I don't have a landline and this box doesn't have a network port. I also don't have a subscription. I've followed both guide's instructions to the letter except for the TivoMad instruction. If a subscription isn't necessary for an update is there a way to use a cell?

I have no way of letting it update: I don't have a landline and this box doesn't have a network port. I also don't have a subscription. I've followed both guide's instructions to the letter except for the TivoMad instruction. If a subscription isn't necessary for an update is there a way to use a cell?

Click to expand...

Not that I know of.

OK, so here are my final words of advice on this particular issue; there's really not much I an offer because your setup is just completely non-standard.

1) subscribe to TiVo's service - your box was built with that in mind, and we are supporters of TiVo, so it will always be my recommendation
2) let your unit update; if you don't have a phone line, plug in a TurboNet card and you can update it over your network
3) if none of the above, get your hands on TiVoMad and follow whatever those older instructions actually say to do.

In case 1) or 2), you'll be able to use this CD to do your upgrade. But in 3), you'll probably end up needing a different one...

Thanks to everyone, particularly Tivouprade, who helped me through the ordeal of adding a larger drive on a Series 1 TIVO still running a version of the software at 2.0 or below. I got it working, and the Hinsdale and Weaknees guides are correct for this configuration, you do need the Edit_bootparms utility from the now defunct TivoMAD software to make it work. It can be found on the bootCD called nuboot6.iso still available, as of now, at http://www.cnunix.com/ftp/TiVo/, in the MAD32 directory. It needed to be copied to a floppy, then mounted and run as the very last step.

For those very few who may want to do an upgrade to an old Tivo with old software (the kind that can be used as a recorder without a subscription) here are a few tips:

Use mfstools 2.0 for the basic copying

Don't use a computer with any flavor of AMD K6-xxx processor (not wanting to disrupt the main computers in the house I pulled a couple oldies out of storage, big mistake)

Turnoff any overclocking on your machine

To use the edit_bootparms utility boot the new Tivo drive in byte-swapped mode (but that's not necessary for the basic copy operation)

I was able to save all my stored programs and now have 46 hours of recording available on highest quality (up from 6!). Once I recover from this experience I may try use the LBA48 kernel to see if I can get the full 160GB out of my drive, but I expect that recovery to take quite some time.

Thanks to everyone, particularly Tivouprade, who helped me through the ordeal of adding a larger drive on a Series 1 TIVO still running a version of the software at 2.0 or below. I got it working, and the Hinsdale and Weaknees guides are correct for this configuration, you do need the Edit_bootparms utility from the now defunct TivoMAD software to make it work. It can be found on the bootCD called nuboot6.iso still available, as of now, at http://www.cnunix.com/ftp/TiVo/, in the MAD32 directory. It needed to be copied to a floppy, then mounted and run as the very last step.

For those very few who may want to do an upgrade to an old Tivo with old software (the kind that can be used as a recorder without a subscription) here are a few tips:

Use mfstools 2.0 for the basic copying

Don't use a computer with any flavor of AMD K6-xxx processor (not wanting to disrupt the main computers in the house I pulled a couple oldies out of storage, big mistake)

Turnoff any overclocking on your machine

To use the edit_bootparms utility boot the new Tivo drive in byte-swapped mode (but that's not necessary for the basic copy operation)

I was able to save all my stored programs and now have 46 hours of recording available on highest quality (up from 6!). Once I recover from this experience I may try use the LBA48 kernel to see if I can get the full 160GB out of my drive, but I expect that recovery to take quite some time.

Click to expand...

You are "hardcore" to say the least! Glad you got it working.

Be careful with that lba48 kernel; I'm not certain, but I don't think it will work with that older version of the software. You can read up a bit more about here, as this is the guy who created it...

I was able to save all my stored programs and now have 46 hours of recording available on highest quality (up from 6!). Once I recover from this experience I may try use the LBA48 kernel to see if I can get the full 160GB out of my drive, but I expect that recovery to take quite some time.

Click to expand...

After a month of R&R following the rigors of upgrading a Series 1 with 1.3 software (e.g., finding long forgotten software utilities, teaching myself basic linux commands, trying 4 different mfstools versions, etc.) I had recovered enough to try using the LBA48 kernel on a new drive with the that old 1.3 software. It worked! My new 160GB disk is now fully utilized and has a 55 hour capacity at Best Quality.

Thanks to feedback and contributions from many TCF members, we've updated our popular LBA48 CD (now at version 4.04) to reflect the current state of DIY upgrading for Series1 and Series2 TiVo DVR units. It will also work fine with a Series3 unit as long as you are using and IDE-SATA adapter because this CD does not contain native SATA support.

This CD is designed to replace most of the out-of-date and flaky CD's (Kazmyr's, Dylan's, etc.) that have been floating around for about EIGHT years now. It is also incorporated into our Universal Boot CD (version 11), but we have separated it here to keep the file size small, and the download free.

It is assumed you have a basic working knowledge of MFStools (or are using a decent how-to with detailed instructions) and are also aware that many bootdisks, utilities, and most importantly, the TiVo kernel for Series1 systems, and early Series2 software releases are limited to accessing only 137GB of each individual drive.

This CD uses an LBA48 Linux kernel which is designed for use with all hard disk drives, including drives that are larger than 137GB. This CD may be used to perform standard MFStools backup and restore operations for ALL make/model TiVo systems which are upgradeable. HOWEVER, do not use this CD to restore a backup onto a drive LARGER than 137GB unless it will be used in a TiVo system whose kernel uses a comparable native LBA48 kernel or you are using tools and techniques to augment your upgrade with a user-supplied LBA48 kernel.

Units with a native LBA48 kernel are now:

All Series2 and Series3 Models running version 6.X or later of the TiVo OS

If you are intending to use larger than 137GB drives in a Series1 standalone or Series1 DirecTiVo system, you can simply use the "copykern" utility (provided on the CD) to install an updated kernel featuring LBA48 support. Just type "copykern" and follow the prompted instructions.

Note: 11/18/08 The current version of this CD (4.04) conatins updated LBA48 kernels which work fine with the latest standalone software (3.0) and the latest DirecTiVo software (3.5d) on all Series1 models.

Note: 9/11/07 The current version of this CD (4.04) contains updated LBA48 kernels which work fine with the latest standalone software (3.0) and the latest DirecTiVo software (3.5c) on all Series1 models.

Note: 7/22/07 The current version of this CD (4.04) contains updated LBA48 kernels which work fine with the latest standalone software (3.0) and the latest DirecTiVo software (3.5b) on all Series1 models.

Note: 5/12/06 New Release of the LBA48 CD (ver 4.04) includes a revised copykern and a recompiled kernel (labeled 3.10+) in the s1_kernels directory. We have done preliminary testing with this kernel in conjunction with version 3.5 of the Series1 DirecTV TiVo release and early tests are encouraging. If you have built LBA48 drives which are spuriously rebooting, or contain content that is not accessible through the "Now Playing" list, we encourage you to use copykern to transplant this newly updated kernel. Also note that you will need to use killinitrd to zap the new initrd (or use nic_config in the silicondust network driver release to achieve the same result).

If you are not using drives greater than 137GB, you may use this CD for any model TiVo without worry, with one exception: Do not attempt to use BlessTiVo on drives being added to a Series1 unit; instead, use mfsadd.

Use this CD for performing standard upgrades to units which support disk drives greater than 137GB or use this CD if you are performing an upgrade to any Series1 unit and use copykern to update to an LBA48 kernel (after you have restored your MFS backup image to your new drive.

You can use this CD for ANY Series1 TiVo unit if you are not planning on using a drive greater than 137GB. You can use this CD to bless add-on drives for Series2 units, or use mfsadd to combine two drives for any upgradable Series2 or a Series1.

One last note, MFStool 2.0 (included on this CD as well) has a bug and will not properly initialize a swap partition greater than 127MB. If you are building a SERIES1 replacement drive, and are planning on using "copykern" you can use the -s option (hit F3 for MFStool usage examples) to define a larger than 127MB swap partition, and copykern will initialize it for you when replacing the kernel.

That's it; please consult standard upgrade instructions (hinsdale or weaknees for example); as this CD is designed to be compatible with their guides.

Click to expand...

This is a lie....The CD is not free. Man i have to spend more money on this machine to make it work!

I had a Philips hdr112 that had 2 40gb hard drives die. I popped in the original drive and got it updated to 3.0. Then I started looking at new drives and remember the 2 series 2 that I had that had 250gb drives in them.

thanks to your copykern my tivo has 654 hours!

i used the interactive tivo upgrade command and then the copykern. no problems!

Any ideas what the problem is on the COPYKERN? Does it really look like
my CDrom is missing the appropriate kernel file?

Click to expand...

Looks like your CDROM may not be mounted. Its been awhile since I looked at the boot sequence for it, but I think there is an attempt to automount the CDROM when it starts up so that you can access those files.

If it didn't work, then you will get the "no such file or directory" error until you properly mount it with a command like:

Code:

mount /dev/hdb /cdrom

or something similar.

The 2nd part of the error may be an indication that your mfsrestore didn't work. Try rebooting, or doing a

Code:

tivopart r /dev/hdc

to refresh the partition table after doing a restore and then try running CopyKern again (after verifying that the CD device is mounted properly).

Thanks very much. The mount /dev/hdd /cdrom got the copykern to work correctly. The "tivopart" resulted in an "unknown command" message. Disk still won't boot my Tivo, though. Hangs at "wait a moment..." message.

Now, do you know how to look at the kernel logs when a tivo disk is connected up to a pc? I don't know the proper mount command needed in order to see what is on the disk.

Some laughing may be involved here, but not from my side of the screen:

Just purchased, downloaded and burned the LBA48 4.04 ISO with killhdinitrd'd kernels included (per the descriptive) after having selected my unit from the pulldown lists. SW-LBA48-DL-101 (matches my service number, so I'm certain I picked the correct one).

Just to be concise, the Philips DSR7000 I chose from the pulldown lists is a Series 2 unit, currently sporting an untouched 6.4a software load.

Imagine my surprise when the $5 purchase I made seems to have the S2 kernels but the "copykern" script doesn't have any S2 choices...

Do I a) gripe to DVRUpgrade that I ended up with something other than what I ordered or b) figure out which of the 4 S2 kernels is the one I need and dd the darned thing into /dev/hda3 and 6 or c) find out that the only way I can continue is to buy the $20 InstantCake ISO?

Some laughing may be involved here, but not from my side of the screen:

Just purchased, downloaded and burned the LBA48 4.04 ISO with killhdinitrd'd kernels included (per the descriptive) after having selected my unit from the pulldown lists. SW-LBA48-DL-101 (matches my service number, so I'm certain I picked the correct one).

Just to be concise, the Philips DSR7000 I chose from the pulldown lists is a Series 2 unit, currently sporting an untouched 6.4a software load.

Imagine my surprise when the $5 purchase I made seems to have the S2 kernels but the "copykern" script doesn't have any S2 choices...

Do I a) gripe to DVRUpgrade that I ended up with something other than what I ordered or b) figure out which of the 4 S2 kernels is the one I need and dd the darned thing into /dev/hda3 and 6 or c) find out that the only way I can continue is to buy the $20 InstantCake ISO?

Click to expand...

The big question is why you would need ANY of those things (or consider option a in the first place).

CopyKern and killhdinitrd kernels have nothing to do with one another; never have and never will.

Please take a look at the very first post of this thread which talks about the specifics of the FREE CD and why you would want to consider CopyKern in the first place. As for the $5 CD, it does contain the Series2 killhdinitrd kernels, but if all you are looking to do is have an expanded drive with 6.4a on it, you don't need to use a killhdinitrd kernel, lba48 or otherwise...

I'd like to network said DSR7000 with the DSR704 and the PCs in the house. I'd like to take advantage of TiVoWebPlus' conflict resolution to have the two machines share the load when 3 shows conflict. I'd like to give the better half the ability to watch her time-shifted Oprah and Dr. Phil in either location, whether she's on the treadmill or in her easy chair.

I had success with 6.2a on the DSR7000, but the 704 updated to 6.4a before I'd gathered the courage to start on it. She likes the remote scheduling via directv.com better than my way of logging into TiVoWebPlus, she's accidently deleted enough shows that "recently deleted" was an instant hit, so I'm damned if I try to downgrade it to 6.2....

The 7000 was networked (even replaced the USB-Ethernet adapter with a completely different device once), had mfs-ftp, vserver, TivoWeb running, all was good. Unfortunately for me, I lost it all; the power supply suffered a catastrophic failure during the same event that crashed the drive, and no backup had ever been made since everything was done via the network while onboard the DirecTiVo.

The reason I'm looking for killhdinitrd or a kernel is that the "native" usb drivers don't appear to work with the adapters I have, so I'm trying to work with Jamie's backported drivers. hdinitrd (from what I've been able to gather with my scattered brain, correct me if I'm wrong) prevents such replacements.

The killhdinitrd on the 4.04 ISO gives "fatal: no exploit found for this kernel", none of the 4 S2 kernels work (all panic according to the logs) and just dropping the backported drivers into place results in their disappearance after the DirecTiVo reboots a few times...

Tell me I'm an idiot, then point out the error of my ways with concise directions. I've had a headache for a week trying to figure this out, and she's starting to get cranky about not having a working television in the bedroom.

The killhdinitrd on the 4.04 ISO gives "fatal: no exploit found for this kernel", none of the 4 S2 kernels work (all panic according to the logs) and just dropping the backported drivers into place results in their disappearance after the DirecTiVo reboots a few times...

Tell me I'm an idiot, then point out the error of my ways with concise directions. I've had a headache for a week trying to figure this out, and she's starting to get cranky about not having a working television in the bedroom.

Click to expand...

Your request is way beyond the scope of this thread, and what you are asking me to do is not trivial. What I'd recommend you do is revisit the methods you used when upgrading your 6.2 system. The same kernels should work for the same reason that our PTVnet software CD's for both 6.2 and 6.4 use the same killhdinitrd kernels, from what I recall, and these kernels are provided on the $5 CD you purchased. There is a lot more to getting USB Ethernet drivers running, however.

If you are looking to save time then you might want to consider some of the other DIY tools we offer (or a preconfigured kit).